Under His Light
by Morningstar-Girl
Summary: The goddess continues to make Isanami fall under her influence through vivid dreams. The young priestess fears that soon she won't wake up as herself, but as the goddess. Her light, Saizo, is the only one to put sense in her mind before she loses it all, her mind and body, to the Goddess of Destruction.


_What's up everyone, Tati here And welcome to my first _Brave 10_ fanfic. I watched the anime last year, I think, and I completely fell in love with it! So here it is, and I hope you enjoy it._

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**Under His Light**

A single girl stood among the flames. Bodies of people she couldn't recognize, friend or foe, laid about faced down, bloody, and unmoving. She felt that her breathing was unstable, anymore panting and she could end up hyperventilating. So, she slowed her breaths before she got lightheaded.

Looking around the surrounding village homes and shops, no one she knew was there. _They're all back at the castle…maybe_, she thought as she turned east where the view of Ueda Castle would lay.

But what her golden eyes landed on was a castle in flames. Hey eyes widened as she ran through the streets of bodies, making her way to the castle…To her home.

_No…No!_ the girl thought as she ran. Her hair pinned back with her pin wasn't enough to keep her sky blue locks from flying around her. _Please gods, listen to my prayer…Don't let me find them still! Don't let me find them drenched in blood!_

"I beg of thee!" she yelled running down the dirt road.

As she end her climb up the castle steps at the courtyard entrance, her pleas to the gods where left unheard. Laying around the courtyard were the girl's friends…The family she had created after his old home was burnt to the ground. Each member were holding their respected weapons in their cold hands or near their bodies.

He brother, the only member of her _first_ family who had survived with her, was leaning against one of the wooden pillars that held the castle up. His eyes were open, but were blank and dull. Blood was on the pillar, a little higher than where his head laid. Beside him was her younger brother, laying face down in a pool of blood. The explosions he took pride in creating were drenched in his blood, unusable now for being soaked in red.

Farther away from the two was a man in green. His legs were held together with sharp wire, blood dripped from it. Like the girl's brother, his eyes were dull. Void of life. Nudging his body were weasels. His weasels. Beside him, leaning against the back wall, was a tall man with long brilliant red hair. His eyes were closed and his face had a ghost of a smile. He was probably content with his death by countless arrows to the chest.

Across from the four, on the other side of the courtyard, was another woman, blonde though. Most of the far right corner was covered with spikes of ice that covered the blonde woman. A good defence, but not from aerial attacks. Arrows were scattered in the ground, two managed to be stuck in the chest of the woman's body leaning against an ice spike.

In front of the woman's body, right across from the bodies of the girl's brothers, were two older men. The foreigner with a darker complexion was on his knees, eyes blank and mouth slightly ajar. Many spears, including his own, pierced his skin and dripped crimson. Beside him was the dark-haired samurai, on his back and bleeding from a single hole in his head. His precious weapon from the west laid some feet away from his body in the dirt.

A short man in black was in the courtyard garden, specifically in the pond. Kneeling on the rocks framing the water, half of his body was floating on the water's surface with his clothes drenched. Killed by his own element. The girl couldn't see the body, living or dead, of the castle's master. Taking in the tracks in the dirt, she concluded that the enemy took their master, dragging him to their land for execution. If not, imprisonment.

Besides their master, she missed one other member of her family. The leader of their group. She turned her head in all directions, quick enough to make her hair fan around her. Golden eyes searched desperately for a man clad in black who was bright like the sun. Her eyes landed on a slumped over figure on the steps that led to the castle's entrance. A sword thrown on the ground in front of it. She gasped as she ran to the figure.

"Saizo!" the girl yelled.

When she reached him, she quickly knelt beside him and turned him over on his back. There were bruises on his arms along with holes leaking blood caused by arrows in his chest. His face was covered in grime and dried blood. His eyes were closed.

"No…" she whispered. Resting her head on his bloody chest and hair on his neck, the girl cried. "NO!"

Sobs from the girl and the cracks coming from the fires were all that could be heard that night. For a second time in her young life, the girl lost everyone she's loved. Both families were gone, leaving her in the land of the living as they went to the Netherworld.

"_Did you want this to stop? Your suffering?_"

An eerie voice behind her stopped her girl's sobs. Raising her head, the girl faced a near replica of herself. The same blue hair and golden eyes, but the other's skin was grey like stone and had an eerie, sadistic grin on her lips.

"You're…"

"_You_," the other said. "_The Goddess of Death and Destruction. And_-" she paused to look around the courtyard at the bodies of her family- "_the reason for misfortune on you._"

The girl stood up from Saizo's body, a hand on her chest. Her heartbeat was fast, she was scared. So scared. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"_To give you the power you so _crave_, My Dear._"

The girl shook her head slowly, knowing that, if they were alive, her family wouldn't want her accepting the goddess' powers. Especially Saizo.

"No, I don't want it. Leave me alone." She started backing away from the goddess, her hand now clutching the cloth of her kimono. "Leave me be."

"_Oh, but I _cannot_, My Dear. You and I, Isanami, we are one in the same. Where you go, I go. I am you and you are I, the goddess Izanami. There is no escaping your fate with me._"

"No," Isanami whispered. Gasping upon contact with a wall, the blue-haired girl slid down to her knees. "No…Leave me be! Please! I don't _want_ my power!"

"_You may not want our power over destruction, Isanami, but you _need_ it. Especially if you want to protect those so dear to you._" The goddess knelt in front of her, extending a cold hand to the girl. "_Take my hand and accept our power My Dear._"

"No!" The girl closed her golden eyes, ducking her head under her hands in a sad attempt to cast away the goddess. "NO!"

"_Take my hand!_"

"NO!" Isanami yelled as she gripped her head with her fingers. "GET OUT OF ME!"

"_I REFUSE!_"

The goddess held the girl by her shoulders, shaking her. Tears fell from closed gold orbs. Isanami bit her lips, keeping her from crying out.

"_Isanami!_" The goddess' voice changed…to a male's voice. "_ISANAMI!_" His voice was frantic, panicky, but familiar and warm.

In the darkness that was Isanami's eyelids, she saw a spec of light. The amount of light soon grew in size as the voice grew louder.

"_ISANAMI! WAKE UP!_"

Said girl opened her eyes to be met with a pair of frantic green ones. The man who held her in his arms sighed, lowering his head and let his black hair cover the worried features on his face.

"Saizo?" Isanami asked.

"Idiot, had me worried over a nightmare."

"Huh?" The girl sat up, releasing herself from Saizo's grasp.

She looked around. They were in her room, the room she had in Ueda Castle. Quickly getting up, she went to the sliding door at the back of her room. Slamming it open, she saw the castle in one piece and not in flames. A few guards were in the courtyard making idle talk on duty. The stars and half moon were out, reflecting their light into the fish pond near her room.

Panting, Isanami slid the door shut before backing away from it with her arms on her chest, grasping each other.

"Isanami?" At the sound of her name, the golden-eyes girl looked back to Saizo kneeling next to her futon. "What's wrong?"

"S-Saizo…"Her voice was shaky, on the verge of sobs. "It…It was so real. The fires, the bodies…_Her_."

She noticed a slight flinch on his arms. Saizo must've known that Isanami was talking about the goddess. He knew that the goddess hidden within Isanami took a serious toll on the girl. It took a toll on him as well.

"Sh-She wants me to take her power…That horrible power." Isanami sat beside Saizo, leaning her head on his shoulder for comfort. "Every night, it gets worse Saizo. I'm…I'm scared." She let her tears fall from her eyes. "I feel that, next time, she'll get me, and I won't wake up as myself."

Saizo stayed quiet, he barely knew how to deal with the rest of their group as the leader, let alone the energetic, clingy girl known as Isanami. But he knew how to exactly deal with her when the goddess was forcing her way into Isanami's mind to claim control over her. It was what his duty as the Brave of Light, to keep the darkness in the Brave of Darkness at bay.

With his left hand, Saizo pulled her closer to him by her waist. His right reached over and grasped his hand tightly in his. In regular circumstance and if surrounded by their group, Saizo would never live this down, especially by that pervert old man and strict minded gun junkie. But, this wasn't normal and he was alone with Isanami. Unless the brat and big idiot brothers of hers were snooping around his room, no one would know.

"You know that won't happen when I'm around Isanami." He glanced his green eyes over to hers. "I'll keep her at bay for as long as I have to. Light always keeps the darkness in people at bay, and I'll do my best to make sure she doesn't get control over you."

"But the dreams she shows me Saizo! They're so real, I can't tell the difference between illusion and reality anymore! I don't know what I'll wake up! Everyone alive and well or the castle in flames and everyone in it dead!"

"Then I'll be there!"

Saizo gripped her hand and pulled on it so that Isanami was on his lap facing him. There was a serious look on his face, his lips were pulled back in a thin line and his eyes held determination. Isanami's mouth was slightly opened and her eyes were wide in surprise. She had never seen him so determined like this before, it was eye-opening. And attractive in a sense.

"You are darkness, I am light. Although we differ in personality and ability, we need each other in a sense. We keep the other sane, stable. Whatever you want to call it. We ground the other. When I need a reality check you're there. And when you're in danger of yourself, I'm there to keep you in the light. Under _my_ light." Saizo sighed, leaning over to put his forehead in the crook of Isanami's neck. "You don't have to be afraid of the Goddess of Death and Destruction when I'm here with you Isanami."

There was silence between them, it was comfortable so neither of them dared to move yet. Isanami looked down at their hands. At some point, Saizo laced their fingers together as he held her hand tightly. He care for her, he truly did. Despite the antics between each other and the others, Saizo did hold at least some sort of feelings towards the girl on his lap. He wouldn't say everything he did if he didn't.

"You promise?" Isanami whispered. The ninja raised his head from hr shoulder, locking in each other's gaze. "You promise that I'll be under you light Saizo?"

"Idiot," he said gently, making the young priestess flinch slightly before pulling on her hand and wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing her body against his. "I'm already your light, so you're already under it."

Isanami smiled against his chest as she wrapped her slim arms around him, softly gripping his shirt. "_Thank you Saizo_," Isanami whispered as she drifted to sleep in his arms.

The dark-haired ninja smiled annoyingly once he heard the soft and steady breathing of the girl in his arms. "Klutz, you're gonna get sick if you don't sleep in a bed."

Saizo moved himself so that he could lay the girl on her futon. As he reached for the covers, a small hand shot out, grasping his sleeve. He looked over to see the girl still sleeping but her arm extended. Sighing, Saizo knew she wasn't going to let him leave anytime soon.

_It is late…_Another glance at the sleeping girl and he soon let himself slip under her covers with her. _One night couldn't hurt right? _was his last thought before Saizo drifted off to sleep with an arm around Isanami who cuddled up to his warmth.

The next day, the two were discovered by Benmaru and Seikai in the morning. Which ultimately led to a louder-than-usual morning, consisting of lectures by Kakei and perverted looks from Jinpachi and Yukimura. While Isanami tried to subdue his elder brother with a bright pink blush on her cheeks, Saizo looked annoyed at how the morning was ruined. But Anastasia was the only one who noticed his cheeks were slightly discoloured, having a subtle shade of pink on them.

Saizo ended up sleeping in Isanami's room more time than he thought he would after that night. Isanami's nightmares did get worse and Saizo was scared that he wasn't doing enough to stop the goddess from taking over. But after being stopped by his light, Izanami stopped forcing her control on the young priestess.

Eventually, Saizo returned to staying in his own room during the night, after their master declared that the goddess was no longer a threat to Isanami's safety. But for the two opposite Braves, it was unnerving for them to be separated from the other. Saizo and Isanami, after coming up front with their feeling they harboured for each other, stayed in the same room, the night often ending with Saizo holding Isanami close to him in their futon.

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"Saizo?" Isanami asked.

"Hm?"

"Are you really okay with this? With me?" It was a week since they essentially moved in together and she'd ask the same question before going to sleep.

"You ask the same question every night, Isanami."

"I know, but…" She paused as she began forming circles on Saizo's bare chest with one hand while the other gripped the end of her night clothes. "I don't want you to feel for-"

Saizo interrupted her with a chaste kiss on her lips before looking into her golden eyes. He placed another kiss on her forehead and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her body closely to his chest.

"Idiot, darkness and light should always be together. If I'm not with you, the darkness won't stay still in you. As your light, I can't let that happen to you."

Isanami smiled before nuzzling her face into Saizo's chest. "Thank you, I love you Saizo."

With one hand, Saizo stroked his woman's blue hair from her peaceful, sleeping face. "_I love you too Isanami_," he whispered before drifting off to sleep. A smile appeared on his face as he knew that Isanami was always going to be under his light.

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_The fluff...The fluff is strong. God, I just wish those two will get together in the manga, which I _pray_ will update soon._

_Anyways, thanks again for reading. As always, let me know what ya guys think by leaving a review or sending me a PM. And I'll see you in the next story, Tati_


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